Beauty and despair in student performance

The four works on the TNUA Dance Department’s summer concert were a challenge for the students, who proved their mettle

By Diane Baker / Staff reporter

I kept thinking that Chasm looked like something film director David Lynch might create, if his forte was choreography.

While I admired the suppleness of the dancers, my back twinged in sympathy for theirs, and I felt that, no matter its length, this is a work that could only be performed by very young dancers. Anyone older would revolt.

Kylian’s Soldier’s Mass for 12 male dancers, set to Bohuslav Martinu’s Field Mass, was a classic example of his elegant style and mastery of patterning.

It is a great test for young students, and the cast I saw were all in their first or second year at the university, so their lack of experience showed in a few places.

Overall, however, the young men acquitted themselves admirably, and provided a fitting end to what was a fairly strong concert program.